A fire in the lungs. A light headedness. The roar of rushing blood through your ears. Falling and drowning are quite similar. OC/AdventurerXDrakath, fluff sort of, warning for some language. Sixth chapter added. This is a series of one-shots relating to the pairing. Related to Double Edged.

He was right on her heels. By some stroke of luck, Drakath had managed catch the adventurer completely off guard. She was without her accursed dragon, weapons and even her armor; completely vulnerable. He practically flew after her through the dense woods keeping his eyes on the prize. The chase had been going on for a while now and neither of them was showing any signs of stopping. It was almost too dark to see the girl, but the sounds of her feet pounding on the ground and tearing through the bush made locating her easy. It was like she wanted him to chase her.

Just as that thought entered in mind, she suddenly disappeared and the woods became eerily silent. Slowing down to a stop, Drakath cursed under his breath.

"Ty! I know you're here! Come out and face me, or have you finally realized that you're no match for me," Drakath called out. He started to tread carefully through the darkness, watching for any sign of the peasant's figure crouching behind a tree or bush. Suddenly, a girlish giggle rang out in the silence.

"Princey don't kid yourself. Trying to jump me when I'm defenseless? I'm actually flattered that you would find me so dangerous as to attack me as I am now," Ty's voice rang out. She was talking in a snobbish manner that mocked Drakath from the shadows. Angered, Drakath turned towards the source of the voice and a branch swung directly into his face. He was flung back a few yards and bounced off a tree. Laughter echoed through the forest, this time coming from above the trees.

"You wench! I'll rip your throat out for that," Drakath snarled getting to his feet. Ty must have climbed a tree like the animal that she is. How was he going to catch her now? It was going so well too.

"I don't doubt that, but you're going to have to catch me first ," Ty laughed. Oh he'll do more than that. Once he's done with her, no one would be able to recognize the mush that used to be her face. A rock interrupted his thoughts abruptly, aimed right at his forehead. Luckily it bounced off of his forehead protector but it was soon joined by a volley of sticks and stones. Drakath began to flail about trying to hit the pieces away. Frustrated, he drew his sword and the rain of objects stopped.

"Run out have you? Then get down here and fight me coward!"

The forest had gone silent again and Drakath readied himself. No doubt Ty was going to weasel her way out or even escape. He strained to hear any signs of movements. The air was suddenly knocked out of his lungs when something hit his back, feet first. Knocked down to the ground, with Ty on his back, he felt a hand grab his hair and slam his head on the ground, pinning it.

"You're a hypocrite," Ty pouted from above him. "You find me in the middle of the night, defenseless with no one around, chase me like a serial killer from a crappy slasher story, minus the charm and ability of course, and call me a coward? Yet here we are, with you eating dirt once again." Drakath tried to throw her off, but the oaf kept a strong hold on him, preventing him from budging even an inch.

"I'm sad Princey…you're getting boring again." That did it. Mustering all of his strength, Drakath pushed himself off from the ground and felt Ty jump off of him.

"That's what I want to see! Come on, let's pick up the pace!" Ty cheered. She turned to sprint off and promptly disappeared. The sound of the wind whistling through the trees replaced Ty's airy voice. Confused, Drakath straightened himself and approached the spot where Ty used to be. He took his time moving towards it, something he'd started to do out of habit from chasing Ty. The girl would always pull something like this only to pounce out and make a fool of him once again. That was what saved him from plummeting 100 meters down into a churning ocean. Staggering back, he realized that this whole time they were running towards a cliff. It had just been too dark to notice. Even the stars were blocked out by the looming dark clouds. A smile crept onto his face. Ty probably didn't notice the cliff and fell off. It wasn't as good as smashing his fist into her annoying looking face but it was passable. The smile disappeared however once he realized that this could be another trick. Wouldn't be the first time. He tensed waiting to feel a pair of hands push him from behind or a dagger to his shoulder or a dragon breath to the face. What he got instead was the sound of a groan coming from the side of the cliff. An arm reached up from the edge and grabbed a clump of grass followed by the other. Ty was trying to pull herself up, and Drakath found the perfect opportunity to get back at her for all of the humiliation she put him through. She might even be put out of action for a while. In an instant, Drakath came over to the edge and stomped on Ty's hand eliciting a cry from her. Looking down, he saw Ty stare back completely livid. A sardonic smile graced his face and he began to laugh.

"Looks like the tables have turned peasant! Ready to beg for mercy?" Drakath taunted, digging his boot into her forearm. Ty grimaced in pain and bit her lip. Thoughts looked like they were rushing through her head at a breakneck speed. Her eyes darted around and for some reason showed no signs of anger or disbelief. Finally, she looked him in the eyes and began to stutter.

"P-prin….w-wait!" Drakath's grin only grew wider and he crouched down to get closer to her. His heart was racing in his chest and is head felt incredibly light. This was great! She'll never live this moment down.

"What was that? I can't hear you."

"St-stop this!" she managed to spit out. Drakath rolled his eyes.

"What, is the great hero afraid of getting wet?" he taunted.

"I can't swim!"

Drakath felt his heart stop.

"W-what?" he managed.

"If you don't stop, I'll fall and drown!" Drakath felt himself pale and his heart started to thud dangerously. Ty began to lose her grip.

"You're lying," he accused. No way was he believing her. It must be another trick. Drakath tried to reassure himself but the look Ty was giving him was desperate, and nothing he ever did made her look like that.

"Please! I'll drown!"

Ty's eyes were wide with fear, but there was no way he would buy into it. He would enjoy his moment of power over her instead. He attempted to muster a laugh, an insult, anything. Instead, his throat felt constricted and he felt unsure of what to do. The crashing of the waves from below seemed obscenely loud.

"Drakath!"

On an impulse, he reached out a hand to her and without warning, he felt the ground shift. It might have been because the roots of the nearby trees didn't stretch out to the cliff or woodland animals had dug tunnels in the ground making it weak. Either way, the ground gave out from below him and he felt himself begin to descend.

Everything was going in slow motion. What should have been seconds felt like agonizing minutes. He was tumbling head first down into the sea and he had lost sight of Ty. He felt like he should be screaming or yelling or something, but he was trying to look for Ty instead. Then, he felt something bump into his back and cling onto his cape. That was when everything sped up and he felt the cold sea swallow him.

...

Coming to, he found himself face down, washed up on the beach and soaking wet. The waves were gently lapping onto the shore. Well that could have gone better. Drakath tried to drag himself up from the water but he felt something weighing him down. Annoyed, he looked over his shoulder to find Ty still weakly clinging to his cape.

"What did you think you were doing," Drakath spat, pulling Ty's limp body off of himself. "You were trying to kill me weren't you? Are you listening to me?" Ty, now on her back, was unresponsive. Her black hair and clothes clung to her and she looked like she was sleeping. Drakath tried shaking her but she didn't stir. "Hey...Ty?" Still no answer. Alarmed, Drakath hauled her up out of the water onto dry sand. She felt, for lack of better words, like dead weight. Kneeling next to her, he tried to see if she was breathing. Her chest wasn't moving and she seemed unnaturally pale.

Drakath cursed under his breath. He should be happy and gloating but at the moment all he could think about was what to do, ask himself why he was so concerned and try to keep himself from throwing up. An idea came to him but he wasn't sure if he could pull it off. When he was a child, he once saw a frantic wife try to revive her drowned husband before his father's soldiers separated them. He wasn't sure of how it worked exactly but he was going to try.

Trembling, he tilted her head back and held her nose. I just need to breathe into her right? She'll wake up right? Though it felt extremely awkward, he leaned over her and closed the gap between their faces. Their lips had barely touched before he felt something slam into his ribs.

"Your face." Ty's eyes had opened and her fist had hit him square in the chest. Fucking really? Completely frozen, Drakath was trying to find a way to react. Before he could, however, Ty knocked him on his back and leapt on him. She straddled his hips and pinned his arms over his head with one hand. Furious, Drakath struggled to get free but it was no use. Despite her small frame, Ty was incredibly strong. Ty was staring down at him now; her blue eyes glowed in the darkness; her face unreadable. Then, her blank expression cracked. First into a smirk and then into a full-fledged grin.

"You tricked me you conniving wench! Now let me g-" Drakath was cut off by a hand clamping over his mouth.

"Yap yap yap. All you do is just go on and on. You're like one of those annoying miniature dogs and to be honest I hate dogs," Ty teased, removing her hand. "But for once, you actually did something… interesting. Maybe it's because after all of the time we've spent scrapping with each other, I've grown on you."

"That's bullshit and you and I both know it," Ty says, growing serious. "Besides, I think that isn't a very motivating reason for you to give me mouth-to-mouth." Drakath glowered at her words, but he couldn't deny them.

"All I want is for you to die," he growled. Ty's face became unreadable again and she let his arms go.

"Then do it," she says nonchalantly, crossing her arms. "You could choke me to death or smother me in the sand. And hey look! There's a rock over there. Try smashing my brains out with it. That would be quite a show wouldn't it?" Drakath opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Propping himself up on his elbows, he struggled to find a reason for why he wouldn't…couldn't just kill the witch already. There were a lot of reasons for why he should. Mainly because she was a threat to his destiny. Even if that wasn't the case, her mere image made him queasy with ire, her voice made his stomach do summersaults and lately, he couldn't look her in the face without getting uncomfortable.

"You know what? I'll even give you a few moments to decide," and with that, Ty slumped onto the sand next to him and closed her eyes. Drakath was left frozen and speechless. He wanted badly to say or do something to get him out of this situation. For some reason though, above all he really just wanted to grab her and yell at her for freaking him out. Recently, that's all he could ever do when they met. Lately, all of their fights were just tussling and fist fights. They hardly ever drew swords anymore. Maybe it was because they were trying to display their bravado. He doesn't deny though, that he suspects that it was an excuse to get contact with eachother. They still yelled a lot of course, and the insults were either getting very creative or very tasteless.

"I wasn't lying you know," Ty's voice broke the silence. Surprised, Drakath turned his head over to face her. "I really can't swim… but did you forget that I spilled water breathing potions into the sea?"

"You did what?" Drakath managed, confused.

"…Shit uh…well…now you know," Ty stuttered. "But that's not important. I didn't lie to you. Now that I think about it, I've never lied to you before. You're the only person I haven't lied to since I came here. I bent the truth back there, but I only wanted to see how you would react. It's…strange."

"What does that have to do with anything," Drakath mumbles, taking the information in. How can you not lie to your worst enemy. "That means you've lied to all of your misfit friends. What a terrible person you are." Ty looked away from him and up at the sky, in thought.

"You're right. I really am a bad person aren't I," she almost whispers. "I can only show be my real self to anyone who's evil. Especially you. Since you're such an evil person, I can be a complete jackass to you. I mean, almost everyone hates you so that sort of makes it justifiable…at least to the current morality wheel."

"What do you mean by almost?" Drakath asks incredulously. He knew a lot of people despised him and though there were those who supported him, they were just after power. Ty turned herself to look at him and reached out to hold his wrist. Drakath, unsure how to react, watched warily.

"I like you," Ty says. The words hit him like a hammer and he stops breathing. "I like you a lot. More than I should, really." The grip on his arm tightens and his lungs feel like bursting. He tries to muster an insult but he can't seem to bring himself to. Instead, he moves closer, reaching out his other hand to her. He stops thought, suddenly realizing what he's doing. He wanted to be angry or to try to abuse this new found weakness but all he could feel was distraught. Distraught because he thought that this couldn't be real, that he could possibly feel the same way and if the feelings were actually real, it would end in disaster for the both of them.

Sensing his hesitation, Ty rolled her eyes and quickly moved into his arms, cupping his face with her small hands. She pushed up his headband and gave him a quick and tiny kiss on the side of his forehead. Without realizing, he wraps his arms around her form and holds her for a moment that felt much too short.

A sudden gust of wind startles him and he looks up to find a dragon, Ty's dragon, landing beside them. It didn't look amused. He hears a sigh from Ty and feels her getting up. She stands and stretches for a bit then turns and looks down at him.

"Well, that was interesting. Looks like I have to run and looks like you need to get back before angsty wonders where his lackey is." Ty says, as if what had transpired between the two of them never happened at all. "I'll be seeing you around. Tomorrow even. No don't get up. I can get on my dragon just fine." She says, hopping onto her dragons back. "I'll catch you later." And with that, her dragon flew off into the sky. He watched as it disappeared into the night and let the silence settle on the landscape. It wasn't till later, when he was walking through the woods that he realized the true gravity of what had just taken place.

"Dammit…" Drakath breathed out. He felt emotionally exhausted and his footsteps were still shaky. At least he, now, knew why he felt so irritated whenever he met Ty. Now unfortunately, if...when he sees her again, instead of feeling anger or irritation, he'll drown. Strangely, he wouldn't mind if he could just drown forever. With her. And that was terrifying.

Holy crap holy crap. It's been so long since I've written anything. The idea came up for this when a good friend of mine asked if I was going to write romance into Double Edged. I said that I thought about it and that it would be good practice for my original stories but I didn't know who I should pair Ty up with. Then my friend said "what about the loser?" At first I thought she meant Ash but she clarified it saying "I mean the one with the naruto head band and the dorky name." And suddenly plot bunnies. This was also my first attempt at romance so if anyone manages to stumble onto this, I would love it if you gave me some pointers and constructive criticism. You can even PM me if you like. Hopefully you enjoyed this and won't beat me with words too badly. Double Edged will continue and this one shot will/might be a part of the story, just with a different POV. It's set somewhere after the wind orb saga but before the light orb saga maybe, and they do run into each other more often than in the actual canon story. So thank you for your time and goodnight. (It's 5 in the morning currently as I write this).

*Edit*: Oh my god. I've just realized what I've done...I freaking made a shipping story about Drakath (one of the most hated NPCs on the forums) and the adventurer (who can be insert your name here). Now I'm nervous. How did I go through this without fear? My god...did I make Drakath OOC? Is my OC a mary sue? I'm freaking out here.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.